Taliban teams check vehicles on Zaranj-Dilaram road

ZARANJ (Pajhwok): The Taliban have tasked their mobile teams with checking cars and passengers on the Zaranj-Dilaram highway in Khashrud district of southwestern Nimroz province, said local officials on Monday.

Mohammad Hashim Noorzai, the district chief for Khashrud district, said the Taliban teams a day earlier pulled 10 passengers from a car en route to Nimroz from Herat and Kandahar provinces.

A passenger, Gul Ahmad, who arrived from Herat in Zaranj, the provincial capital, said the Taliban had created checkpoints near Khash city.

“They check passengers of every car to identify people working for the government,” he added.

Nimroz police chief Khwaja Jilani Abubaker told Pajhwok Afhgan News an operation had been launched to drive the rebels from the Zaranj-Dilaram highway and Khashrud district.

Two Taliban fighters were killed and one policeman injured during the operation, he added.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said cars were being stopped by the fighters just to find people who worked for government. “Civilians are free to go everywhere they want.”

The Zaranj-Dilaram highway connects Nimroz province with the southwest and the east